Businessman pushes petition to save Fisherman’s Village

MARINA DEL REY—Plinio “PJ” Garcia, a partial owner of Indy Plush, a boutique specializing in eco-friendly plush toys, has started an online petition to halt the proposed Marina del Rey Visioning Plan from reconfiguring the layout of Fisherman’s Village.

Garcia, who said he fears the ultimate goal of the county is to demolish the village, plans to present online signatures to county officials at a Small Craft Harbor Commission meeting at 6 p.m. May 28 at Burton Chace Park’s Community Building.

The special meeting’s agenda will include a Department of Regional Planning presentation on the Visioning Process, and the public will be allowed comment following the presentation. Alterations in the plan include the development of activity districts, a new retail center and a future boat launch ramp to be moved into the spot currently occupied by Fisherman’s Village.

“I’m trying to get as many signatures as possible before the hearing,” he said. “I sent [the link] to maybe 10 people. I didn’t go down my rolodex like they encourage you to. I’m just letting the ball roll.”

Garcia is implementing the website Care2— benefitting small organizations and special interests hoping to attract change— to facilitate the petition. Signees may also leave a detailed message to address their concerns.

“When there’s speaking time, I’ll go in with a bunch of signatures. I’ll tell them ‘We have many signatures of people that disagree with the visioning process. They believe they have not been heard. They believe that they’ve been misled in the proposal. We would like additional time to voice our opinion and to have another review of the process,’” he said.

Garcia has also received guidance from the Marina del Rey Historical Society and said he has reached out to UCLA and USC’s Schools of Architecture to help develop and draw up a counterproposal.